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Scientific name: Carica papaya L.
Also known as mamao, tree melon, fruta bomba, lechoza and pawpaw. Papaya is likely native to southern Mexico and Central America. The first written reference to papaya is in Historia Natural y General de las Indias by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés. According to legend, in 1535 he sent a letter to the queen of Spain in which he reported the "discovery" of this fruit in the south of Mexico and Central America. Seeds were taken to Panama and the Dominican Republic by explorers, who were met by natives already familiar with the fruit, which they called "papaya." Prior to the conquests, papaya had spread south by Indigenous tribes throughout the Caribbean.
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